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Leaked Documents Reveal the Hotel Lobby's Aggressive Plan To Undermine Airbnb (gizmodo.com)
The New York Times has obtained a document revealing the hotel lobby's aggressive plan to undermine Airbnb's business "by pushing for bills to regulate the company at every level of government," reports Gizmodo. From the report: According to documents from the American Hotel and Lodging Association -- a trade group that includes the country's biggest hotel chains, including Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, the Four Seasons and Starwood Hotels -- the organization is planning a multi-pronged attack at local, state, and federal levels to prevent Airbnb from spreading to new cities across the country. Part of the strategy includes "aggressively countering" Airbnb's claim that it's just helping the middle class make ends meet "with a wave of personal testimonials of consumer harm." The document essentially serves as opposition research and gives its members talking points about Airbnb's alleged racism and taxation issues. According to the document, the association will focus its efforts on Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Washington, and Miami, where Airbnb has yet to establish a strong footing.
Agreed. Neither side is easy to support here. If it were up to Airbnb, landlords would stop renting, every apartment would be put on Airbnb, and both Airbnb and landlords would make a fortune. If you lived in an Airbnb place, or next to one, you're dealing with a constant stream of changing neighbors who have no incentive to be good neighbors since they're on vacation and couldn't care less who hates them by the end of their stay. On the hotel side of things, they are often either pretty expensive or affordable but sketchy and dirty as hell, sometimes doubling as a place homeless stay. There also may not be enough during peak tourist season.